


ex on the beach

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Fluff, Het, Meeting an Ex, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 08:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15115694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: He never expects to see her here....





	ex on the beach

**Author's Note:**

> For the free space on my June bingo card

The thing is, Jake knows he has no right to be jealous. He’s the one who cheated, he’s the one who screwed up and wrecked his marriage. He has to live with that and it’s something that he can live with, most of the time. 

This is not most of the time. 

It’s not like he thinks of her all the time. And maybe if he’d had some warning he was going to run into her, he could have prepared for it, could have been ready for it. 

But he’s in Florida, on vacation. 

A sunshine, beachy vacation. 

Since when did Ellie, his little NSA bookworm so pale that she’d blister in the sun, go on sunshine beachy vacations?

In a bikini, and since when does Ellie wear bikinis? She’d never worn one in all the years he’d known her. 

Except Jake knows the answer. 

Because Ellie’s not alone on her vacation. Six feet away from him, she’s up to her knees in the ocean, her head thrown back as she laughs, the sunshine catching the droplets of water in her hair and turning it into some kind of halo. Her hands are dragging through the water, threatening to splash the man who’s just splashed her, the man who is making her laugh like that, the man who she’s looking at in a way she once looked at Jake. 

And it’s not like Jake didn’t know she’d move on one day. He just didn’t expect it to be a man like this, a man who looks like he just stepped out a gym ad, a man who’s turning more than one head on this crowded beach. Not that this guy is in a position to notice that, though, because he only has eyes for Ellie. 

Ellie, who shrieks with laughter as he lunges for her, scoops her up in his arms and spins her around, bridal style, before bringing his lips to hers in a kiss. 

One that she returns enthusiastically. 

Ellie, engaging in public displays of affection? 

His Ellie?

But Jake stops that thought as soon as it starts. 

She’s not his Ellie any more. 

No sooner has he realised that than she’s placed down on her feet again, her back to the man’s chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She’s still laughing, but then her eyes land on him and she frowns in what Jake recognises as confusion before her face clears and she freezes. It’s noticeable to Jake, probably doubly so to the man she’s with and he frowns as he looks down at her. “You ok?” he asks, concern evident in his voice but Jake would bet cash money that she didn’t even hear him. 

“Jake,” she says instead and understanding flashes across the man’s face before he schools it into a carefully neutral expression. Which surprises Jake, because the guy has alpha male written all over him and Jake had expected him to come over completely macho and territorial. But all he does is slide his hands from around Ellie’s waist so that they rest on her hips, letting one hand fall to his side. The other? Well that stays firmly on Ellie’s hip. It’s not a showy move though, it just looks like he thinks that’s where it belongs, like it’s natural for him to have it there. 

All those thoughts flash through his head in a second and he swallows hard before he speaks. “Ellie,” he says. Words fail him for a moment and, if he’s not mistaken, her too. He looks her up and down, doesn’t miss how the other man’s jaw tightens, and it tightens even more when he says, “You look good.” 

“You too.” Ellie’s flustered, he knows from the way that she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She glances around, blinks up at the other man. “Nick, this is Jake. Jake, Nick.” 

She doesn’t add any descriptors but she doesn’t need too. Nick already knows who he is and it’s pretty obvious to Jake who - or what - Nick is to her. “Hey,” is all Nick says and he doesn’t extend his hand to Jake, makes no friendly overtures at all. 

Part of Jake is offended by that. 

Part of him understands completely. After all, he’s not holding out his hand either. 

“Hey,” he says. “Nice to meet you.” It’s a total lie, but neither of them call him on it. “You’re here on vacation?” 

He wants to bite off his tongue - why else would they be in Miami, he’s pretty sure NCIS doesn’t have a presence here. Ellie doesn’t treat it like the ridiculous question it is though. She nods. “Nick grew up here,” she says and Jake’s stomach does an unpleasant flip at that development. 

He’s taken her home to meet his family, see his childhood haunts. Jake remembers doing that with Ellie, knows you don’t do it unless you’re serious. 

It’s fine, he tells himself, not for the first time in the last five minutes. He’d always known that Ellie would move on eventually. 

But knowing and seeing, he’s finding, are two different things. 

“I see,” he says and he does. Even if he wishes he didn’t. “Well... have a good time.”

He walks away then, tries very hard not to look back. 

It doesn’t work.

*

“You ok?” 

Ellie’s doing her make up in the bathroom when she hears Nick’s quiet voice behind her. She meets his eyes in the bathroom mirror, smiles at what she sees - him eyeing her with undeniable appreciation, appreciation that she returns as she takes in his dark slacks, a contrast with the white shirt, open at the neck. His appearance momentarily distracts her from what he was actually asking and he knows it too, she can tell from the way that he smirks as he leans against the doorframe, all but striking a pose for her. 

When she doesn't answer, he shrugs one shoulder. She almost - almost - licks her lips. "You've been quiet for most of the afternoon," he says and she sighs as she lays down her make up brush and turns to face him. She braces her hands against the sink behind her and she thinks he might close the distance between them - personal space boundaries aren't a thing for Nick this week - but he doesn't. "Was that the first time you've seen him since..." 

She nods. "Since we signed the papers." And a DC lawyer's office on a dark and cloudy day is a long way from sunny Miami. 

Nick inclines his head. "I know it must have been tough for you... To be surprised like that." 

He knows she hates surprises, but Ellie shakes her head. "That's just it," she says. "It wasn't. Tough, I mean. It was awkward..."

His chuckle interrupts her. "Man, it was awkward." 

She finds herself smiling. "It was, wasn't it?" She looks down, rubs her toe against the smooth tiles of the bathroom floor, her smile vanishing as she tries to put her thoughts into words. "But... I looked at him today... and it was so weird. I mean, I loved him. Stood in front of God and my mom and everyone I knew and swore I'd be with him forever. And I looked at him today... and I felt nothing. Nothing."

Nick's lips twist in a mild grimace. "Seems to me he took a vow to stay faithful, so I don't think you've got anything to feel guilty about." 

The notion that he'll always find something to be on her side about makes her smile again. "You were a lot calmer than I thought you'd be." 

"Oh, so you thought I'd play into the jealous, threatened, hot-headed Latino stereotype, huh?" One of Nick's hands splays across his chest and his whole demeanour screams "offended." The tone of his voice, though, the way that his eyes dance, tell another story entirely. It makes her smile as she turns back to the sink, takes up her mascara and prepares to finish her makeup. 

"I wondered," is all she says, her own voice light and teasing. 

He shakes his head as he pushes himself away from the doorframe, comes to stand behind her. He doesn't touch her - he's seen the mascara in her hand and after one particular incident that ended with her half blinding herself, he knows better - but the way his eyes meet hers in the mirror is a caress all by itself. "Nah," he says, his voice low enough to send shivers down her spine. "I've got nothing to be jealous about." He leans in carefully, drops a kiss to her shoulder, just along the strap of her dress. 

"You don't, you know," she tells him, because he might know it but it's still important to her that he hears her say the words. 

He chances a light hand to her hip as he kisses her cheek. "I know." A gentle squeeze and he's moving away. "Now, hurry up, I don't want to miss our dinner reservations. Again." 

Ellie laughs at how he says it like it's her fault that the previous night he'd taken one look at her in the dress she was wearing and promptly decided that dinner could wait. And yes, she might have picked it to have exactly that effect but still. "You're just saying that because you don't know what I'm wearing underneath," she says. 

He stops in his tracks. 

Turns slowly and looks her up and down. 

She gives him her best innocent expression, bats her eyelashes before turning back to the mirror and opening the mascara. 

His groan is music to her ears. "You are an evil woman, Eleanor Bishop," he decides and she grins. 

"That's why you love me." 

There's a moment of silence and her hand stills halfway to her lashes when the reply comes, so soft that she can barely hear it. 

"I do, you know." 

She smiles. "I know." 

Then she turns her attention to the mirror and finishes getting ready, looking forward to her future, not back to her past.


End file.
